Cloth-spreader for dyeing-machines



(No Model.)

G. ILES. CLOTH SPREADER FOR DYEING MACHINES. N0. 562,831. Patentd June 30, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

GEORGE ILES, OF LOW'ELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLOTH-SPREADER FOR DYEING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,831 dated J une 30, 1896.

Application filed December 13, 1895. Serial No. 571,978. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, GEORGE ILES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cloth-Spreaders for Dyeing and Washing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to cloth-spreaders for dyeing and Washing machines; and it consists in the devices and combinations hereinafter described and claimed, the object of the invention being to prevent and remove from the cloth being dyed or Washed any .folds or creases which might interfere with the uniform action of the dyeing or Washing liquors upon the cloth.

The spreader herein described may be used in any machine to prevent or remove folds or creases.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l. is a plan of a part of a washing-machine such as is used in calico dyeing and printing establishments, omitting the upper squeeze-roll; Fig. 2, a vertical section on the line 2 2 in Fig. l; Fig. 8, an enlarged vertical section in the same plane of the spreader; Fig. et, au end view of one of the spreading-rolls.

The tank or vat A, provided with guiderclls B B', which submerge and raise the cloth C in the liquid contained in said vat, and the squeeze-rolls D (only the lower squeeze-roll being shown) are of the usual construction and operation, said squeeze-rolls having a positive motion from a belt (not shown) on the band-pulley cl and the guide-rolls B B being idle-rolls rotated by the friction of the cloth thereon. Usually such a tank is divided by crosspartitions into a series of smaller tanks or vat-s, which may contain different liquids, to the action of which the cloth is subjected by a continuous operation, there being squeezerolls D at each partition to remove one liquid from the cloth before subjecting the cloth to the action of the next liquid.

' A number of pieces of cloth, containing hundreds of yards, are stitched together end to end and passed through the machine, and the cloth is liable, especially near the ends of a piece, to become folded or creased, and the folds or creases once started will run for a long distance in the cloth unless removed. Such folds or creases have a tendency to prevent the liquids in the machine from acting upon the folded places and to. prevent the cloth from acquiring a uniform appearance under the action of said liquids, and sometimes the materials by which the cloth has been treated in a previous printing or dyeing operation are such as t0 injure the fibers of the same if not completely removed by Washin g.

Stationary spreaders have been used, provided With ridges of Wire laid thereon which diverge from the path of the cloth and from the middle of the spreader in such a manner as to present an appearance like the plan of a united right and left hand screw; but these stationary spreaders have not proved efii cient, especially with very heavy cloth. I use,therefore, two series of rolls E E,arranged on opposite sides of the middle line of the tank A, the rolls of one series being given a positive rotation in the opposite direction from that of the other series by means here inafter described.

TWO blocks F F are arranged to extend horizontally above the tanlr A and across the same, said blocks being supported by the sides a d' of said tank, and being preferably of wood. The block F has a rounded side f, up over which the cloth is drawn, said side being preferably covered with suitable sheet metal f2, and the block Fhas a rounded side f', down over which the cloth passes to the next submerging-roll B, said blocks F F' being represented as approximately of the form of cylinders having their adjacent upper portions rabbeted out at f4j` to receive the rolls E E and their journal-boxes e e', their gears e2 e3, the driving-shaft e4, and its gears e6 e?.

The rolls E E' When used on very light cloth may be smooth; but for other cloth, especially heavy cloth, said rolls are preferably spirally grooved at e8 e, as shown, and are rounded, as shown, so that the cloth Will not be caught by the ends of said rolls. The shafts of said rolls E E turn in suitable journal-boxes e e', supported in the rabbets ftf, and diverge from the center of the tanlr in the direction taken bythe cloth. The shafts of said rolls have bevel-gears e2 e3, engaged by bevel-gears eG el, fast on the shaft e4, the arrangement of all said gears being such as to cause the upper sides of the spreader-rolls ICO yE E to move outward from the center of the .gear e5, whichr is engaged by a bevel-gear g on one end of the side shaft G, and the other end of said shaft G has another bevel-gear g', which is driven by a gear d on the shaft d2 of the lower squeeze1'oll D.

By the means above described a sufficient speed is given to the spreader-rolls E E to smooth out the cloth as it passes over said spreader-rolls, which project above the blocks F F sufliciently to get a hold on the cloth.

Except when used on very light cloth the operative surface f' of the `block F is provided with grooves f6 f7, as shown in Figs. 1 and, which grooves diverge spirally from the middle of said block F in the direction taken by the cloth.

The spreader-rolls E E may be changed for others more or less deeply grooved according to the nature of the work, the lighter the cloth the nearer smooth the spreader-rolls, and on very light clothsaid rolls may beentirelywithout grooves.

l claim' as my inventionl. A cloth-spreadingk device, consisting of two equal series of rolls, arranged in the same plane to bear upon the same surface of the cloth on opposite sides of the middle line of the same, and means for rotating the rolls of each series inthe opposite direction from that of the other series to cause the surfaces of said rolls in contact with the cloth to move froinfthe center of thecloth outward,as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a cloth-spreader, the combination of two equal series of rolls, the axes of each series diverging from the axes of the other series, and means of rotating the rolls of each series in the opposite direction from that taken by the rolls of the other series, as and for the purpose specified.

3. A cloth-spreading device, consisting of two equal series of rolls, having rounded ends and arranged in the same plane, and means for rotating the rolls of each series in the opposite direction from that taken bythe rolls of the other series, as and for the purpose specified.

4. A cloth-spreading device, consisting of two equal series of longitudinally-grooved rolls, having rounded ends and arranged in the samefplane, and means for rotating the rolls of each series in the opposite direction from that taken bythe rolls of the other series, as and for the purpose specified.

5. A cloth-spreading device, consisting oi".

two equal series of longitudinally-grooved rolls, arranged in the same plane, the axes of each series diverging from the axes of the other series, and means for rotating they rolls of each series in the opposite direction from that of the otherseries, as and for the purpose specified.

6. A clothspreading device, consisting or' two equal series of spirally-grooved rolls, a1'- ranged in the same plane, the kaxes of each series diverging from the axes of the other series, and means for rotating the rolls of each series in the opposite direction from thatof the other series, as and for the purpose specied. f

7. The combination of two parallel blocks, rabbeted as described, spreading-rolls, hav ing shafts, turning in `journal-bores, and said journal-boxes, arranged in the rabbets of said blocks below the tops of said blocks, said rolls projecting above the tops of said blocks and arranged in two oppositely-rotating series from the middle ofy said blocks, as and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof Ihave signed this specification, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, this 7th day of December, A. D. 1895.

GEORGE ILES. lVitnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, GRACE E. HIBBERT. 

